The Malawi Law Society (MLS) has delivered a blistering rebuke of Parliament's decision to bulldoze the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Constitutional Amendment Bill--warning that lawmakers have placed personal interests above constitutional order and public accountability.
MLS president Davis Njobvu did not mince words. He accused Parliament of deliberately shutting out the very citizens the fund is meant to benefit, calling the rushed process a blatant betrayal of democratic principles.
"There is a high level of self-interest at play," Njobvu charged. "This CDF is neither for MPs nor for councillors--it is for the people. So even the people themselves should have been consulted. The way this Bill was brought to Parliament leaves a bitter after-taste."
Five days after the Bill sailed through the House unanimously, the backlash is widening. Legal experts, governance advocates and civil society groups are now pressing President Peter Mutharika to reject the amendment outright. Many warn that if he signs it, the controversial law will be challenged in court.
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The Bill--pushed by Mzimba South MP Emmanuel Chambulanyina Jere--is framed as a measure to formalise the CDF, spell out its purpose, and standardise management. But critics say it does the opposite: it centralises control in the hands of MPs and weakens local governance structures.
The Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) and several CSOs argue the Bill undermines decentralisation, compromises parliamentary oversight roles, and violates the spirit of Malawi's Constitution.
Njobvu said MLS was never consulted, calling this omission "unacceptable and telling."
He backed growing calls for the President to send the Bill back to Parliament.
"If what we are doing does not promote the rule of law, then we would really join those calling on the President not to assent," Njobvu stressed.
He added that proper consultation would help resolve lingering disputes, including who should manage the fund and how MPs' roles should be properly defined.
Former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Fahad Assani--one of the earliest critics of the amendment--said stakeholders are now relying on President Mutharika to defend the Constitution.
Assani reiterated that MPs have no constitutional authority to manage public finances and that their involvement would require a national referendum to alter core sections of the Constitution.
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"If the Bill is signed, stakeholders will challenge it in court," he warned.
"This President knows how to protect our Constitution."
Benedicto Kondowe of the National Advocacy Platform described Parliament's conduct as deeply troubling. He accused the Legal Affairs Committee of running a sham consultation process.
"Every stakeholder consulted rejected the proposal, yet Parliament pushed ahead. The outcome was predetermined," Kondowe said.
He confirmed that a legal challenge is being prepared and that civic mobilisation will intensify to demand accountability from MPs.
The uproar also follows a landmark Constitutional Court judgement earlier this year in the case of Malga v Attorney General, which ruled that MPs' involvement in overseeing or implementing the CDF and Water Resources Fund violates the separation of powers.
The new Bill, despite that ruling, places legislators at the heart of executive and local government functions they are supposed to oversee.
Minister of Justice Charles Mhango, reacting after the Bill passed, said further steps remain--including presidential assent and an additional Bill to operationalise the CDF. That acknowledgement, however, has done little to ease national concern. With pressure mounting, President Mutharika now finds himself at the centre of a growing constitutional storm. Stakeholders insist the Bill must not pass. Lawyers say the Constitution is at stake. Citizens are being urged to demand accountability.
And the Malawi Law Society has drawn the battle lines clearly: the CDF Amendment, in its current form, is a product of political self-interest--not a law made in service of Malawians.
